Deals With the Devil
by mysticalflute
Summary: Hades doesn't like when he's denied the souls he deserves, and he's not afraid to any to any length he can in order to bring them to the Underworld. (VERY anti-Hook) (OQ, Snowing, Rumbelle mentions)


"I did what you asked. Now let me go."

A dark chuckle escaped from the God of Death as he paced back and forth in front of the man. "So you did, and you did a wonderful job. I mean, admitting that you still love her after she gets together with the man that could have sent you to your early death? Priceless. Simply priceless. But I'm afraid I can't let you go just yet."

"Why the hell not?" Neal asked, staring with dark, angry eyes at the god in front of him.

"Because she's still here. She's still fighting to save that pirate of hers."

Anger burned in him. As much as he wanted Emma to move on and to find her Tallahassee, he couldn't help but be frustrated that it was with Hook of all people.

"So what do you want from me? She's in love with Hook now. There's nothing I can do to change her mind."

Hades didn't know Emma like he did.

Then again, Neal questioned whether or not he even really knew Emma anymore if she was with someone like Hook.

"Oh, I know you won't be able to change her mind, but you'll be able to change the minds of her father, and more importantly… your son."

Neal's head shot up at that. How dare that bastard mention Henry?

"How do you expect me to do that when everything they do is for _Emma_?" he asked.

Hades frowned slightly, before giving Neal the grin that Neal had become familiar with in his nearly year in the Underworld.

"But what would they do for Henry?" Hades asked. "After all, what sort of mother would bring their child to a place like the Underworld?"

"You hurt my son and I swear to God I'll – "

Hades laughed at that. "Which God? My brothers and sisters? Worthless. All of them."

Neal disagreed with that, but he didn't dare say anything.

"You can't do anything to me Baelfire. But I can do everything to you."

"Like drag me down here before my time?"

Hades smirked. "Exactly. But I can send you back, remember. I do control all."

Neal looked up at him. "So you… will send me back to Storybrooke?"

Hades made a face that didn't sit well with Neal. "Well… that part I can't control. You know me, Baelfire. I don't particularly like it when people are able to go on so I don't quite care to know. But you've been useful to me so we'll see where you land."

Being useful to _Hades_ of all deities didn't give Neal any sort of warm and fuzzy feeling.

"What do you want me to do?" Neal finally asked, dejected. He had been hoping to go home long before this, but Hades always kept delaying it. The Fates had judged him, said his string had been cut too early (probably Hades' fault, Neal believed), but he still hadn't been able to go home.

"I want you to contact your son. If I recall correctly he had checked out a room at the Blind Witch's Bed and Breakfast… room eight."

Eight. Neal's heart sank. That was the room he'd been in when he'd first come to Storybrooke to help save his father's life. Dammit. Of course Hades knew that.

He pressed his lips together. "Alright. I'll do it."

He would give anything to see Henry again.

Hades smirked. "I thought you might say that."

Snapping his fingers, Hades undid the binds that chained Neal to the wall and kept staring at him with the smirk.

Neal stood, rubbing at his wrists as he looked down at the ground. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to convince him that you are more important to save than Hook."

The man paused and blinked, suspicious. That was all he had to do?

"Ah – I see the confusion on your face. Emma is lovesick with the pirate remember, which means Henry's focus is going to be on him, rather than you," Hades said. "But the fact that he rented out a room is a good sign that he still misses you."

His heart sank into his stomach. He was right.

"Oh, what's this I see?" Hades questioned as he gazed into his basin that allowed him to see what was going on in the Underworld. "Seems like they're leaving dear Henry behind in the library. You'd better hurry, Neal."

Neal stood quickly and Hades vanished him in a puff of black smoke. When he looked up, he found himself in Room Eight, looking exactly identical to the one he'd rented out what felt like an eternity ago.

Now, he needed to find a way to reach Henry.

Looking around the room he found a piece of paper and a pen, and outside, he could see a bird – no, a _dove_ sitting on the windowsill. The very same type of bird he'd used to send the potion to Hook to help Emma remember her life.

"Come here," Neal muttered, holding out his hand. The bird quickly flew into the room and landed on his shoulder as he scribbled out a note to Henry to meet him at the bed and breakfast. He sent it off, watching the bird until it was out of his line of vision.

He paced the length of the room nervously. This was worse than when he was about to tell Emma and Henry about Tamara. Now he had a chance to restart his life. But he needed Henry's help.

Pounding on the door got his attention right away. Neal sped to it, his heart pounding in his chest as he pulled it open.

"DAD!"

"Henry…" Neal whispered, hugging him tight.

"I knew you were here! Mon tried to tell me you weren't, but I knew it!" Henry cried as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. "Where have you been? We've been everywhere and you weren't _anywhere_!"

"I've been a prisoner of Hades, buddy. He wanted me to tell your mom that to get her to turn around, but she refused to so…"

"So?" Henry asked anxiously.

"So that's why he's attacking her at every turn. She's doing the heroic thing and trying to help people – and no, I'm not saying she shouldn't be – but that isn't what Hades wants. That's not what I wanted either."

"But she's in love with Hook. We have to save him."

"No, Henry," Neal said. "Hook is meant to be here. But you know who isn't?"

The boy stared, paling a little. "You. You aren't meant to be here yet. So… it should be you we're saving… not Hook."

"I was judged by the Fates when I first got here. They were furious that I was sent here so early but Hook had managed to escape death. So when he finally died, Hades was going to send me back up… but then – "

"We showed up and spoiled it."

He could see the disappointment in Henry's face and sighed. "Hey, buddy, no, don't think of it like that. You've saved people. You're still heroes."

"We could have saved you."

"You still can, Henry."

"How?"

Neal bit his lip, unsure of what to say, before looking at the book that was poking out from his son's backpack.

"The book."

Henry blinked, his eyes going wide as he ripped the backpack off his back and stared at the book. "The book…" Henry repeated, going to lay down on the bed. "I'm the Author now. I have a habit of writing in my sleep. So if I go to sleep maybe I'll write how to save you and get the others out of here safely!"

Neal smiled. "You're the Author now? I always knew you were special Henry. What have you written so far?"

Henry smiled and handed it over. "Hook doesn't seem to appreciate what I've done so far. Moms don't understand either. Gramps, Grandpa and Grandmas Snow and Belle have been the only one to encourage me."

Neal's stomach twisted into a knot. How could Emma not support Henry through this?

"Get some sleep, buddy," Neal said, leaning down to kiss his son's head. "We'll make things right, I promise."

Henry nodded slowly, closing his eyes. Neal flipped through the book absentmindedly as he heard his son's breath even out.

He smiled a little as he got to Snow White and Prince Charming's son's story, and grinned when he noticed the name. They'd named him after _him_. A prince was now named Neal. He didn't think that would happen, but he was touched. He supposed that meant Snow and Charming forgave him for what had happened between he and Emma.

"Save the Son of the Dark One…" Henry mumbled in his sleep, his hands automatically reaching for the book and quill in his bag. "The Savior and the Reason for the curse…"

Neal had no idea what his son was talking about, but he watched in fascination as the words appeared on the page.

Leaning down, Neal stroked his son's hair and smiled as the pen began to slow, then still, and Henry opened his eyes again.

"Did it work?" he asked nervously as he sat up.

Neal nodded. "I saw it working. That's unbelievable, Henry."

Henry smiled and hugged him. "So this is it then. We can go home… and you'll be there with us!"

He nodded. "Yeah. Let's go buddy."

The father and son rushed out of the bed and breakfast, heading to a replica of Snow and Charming's Storybooke loft.

"This is weird. Was this place waiting for them?" he asked, with a frown. He would have assumed that Snow and Charming would have gone straight to the Elysian Fields.

"It's creepy, right?" Henry shivered.

"Yeah," Neal said softly. "I think it's better if I go hide somewhere."

"Upstairs."

Neal nodded and rushed upstairs just as he heard the door open.

"Moms, Robin, it happened again," he heard Henry say. "I was asleep and I just started writing again. I don't know if you're going to like it." He must have been looking at Emma at this point.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not a big deal, Henry…" Emma said.

"You have to leave Hook behind."

There was a pause, in which Neal pictured Emma staring in shock at Henry.

"Henry, we can't! We came all this way for him. We can't just leave him behind! I can't let him die!"

"You have to Mom! Hook should have died when Zelena started to drown him, and he should have died in Camelot! And now we're here! There's no re-writing that! Splitting your heart won't work. Following the instructions in this book will," Henry replied. "You have to trust me! It was Hook's time!"

"It can be changed. Zelena changed the past!"

"I might not like my sister that much but that was on _you_ , not her," Regina said.

Sister? The crazy bitch that led him to this place was Regina's sister? That explained so much.

"There's no changing this, Mom. Hades doesn't like when souls are kept from him. And the Fates don't like it when Hades takes souls too early. This is the only way to make things right."

"Henry, what are you talking about? Who's soul did Hades take early?" Regina asked. Neal could picture the frown on her face.

"Dad's."

"Henry, your dad died almost a year ago…" he heard Robin Hood say.

"No," Neal said, finally making his way downstairs, to the shock of the three adults. "I've been kept a prisoner for almost a year. What Zelena sent to me about reviving my father shouldn't have led to my death. It only should have weakened me."

"Neal… but you told me you were somewhere you were happy!" Emma said, eyes wide.

"I also told you to leave the Underworld. Hades was going to send me back if you'd listened to me."

"How can you trust him?" Regina asked. "After everything that's happened – "

"Because he gave me a contract. Trust me, I read it through and through. And you can't keep a living soul here unless the life line has been cut. Mine hasn't been."

"Then neither has Hook's!" Emma cried.

Neal stared at her. "Yes, Emma. It has been. They cut it right in front of me."

She scoffed. "When?"

"When you killed him in Storybrooke. You should have listened to him in Camelot, Emma." He wasn't happy with her at all. "And you should have listened to me when you were in the boat."

He could almost feel Regina attempting to hide a smile behind her hand.

"We've been together almost a year. How can I just leave him here?" Emma whispered.

Neal frowned. Who was this woman anymore?

"You have no idea who Hook really is, do you?" he finally asked.

Emma frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Neal scoffed. "Unbelievable. I knew that son of a bitch wouldn't tell you the truth about how he betrayed me in Neverland and abandoned me to Pan and the Lost Boys. Or how he screwed my mother and made my father think she'd been kidnapped and murdered."

Regina and Robin Hood stared in horror, and Emma blanched.

"He did _what_ to you? Emma, how could you possibly think someone like that deserves to be saved?" Robin asked, horrified.

"Not even _I_ did anything like that," Regina added.

"No, you just held my parents and everyone else in Storybrooke hostage for twenty eight years."

"That's enough, Swan."

Five pairs of eyes turned up and stared as Hook entered the room.

"Killian… I can't. I love you. I came to the Underworld and I'm not leaving without – "

"Baelfire. You're going to leave with Baelfire, your parents, Gold, Robin, Henry, Regina and Belle."

"What about you?!"

"I asked you to let me go in Camelot. Please. Let me go now. I'll be fine. I promise."

Emma began to sob, and Snow and Charming arrived at that moment, followed by his father and Belle.

"Bae!" his father cried, running over to him and pulling him into a hug. "I thought…"

"The Fates judged me Papa. They said I can go home."

He heard cries of relief from Charming, Snow, and Belle as he hugged his father.

"But, wait – what about…" Charming started to say.

Hook held up his hand. "I have to stay. My lifeline has already been cut. There's no coming back."

"I'm sorry," Charming said, though Neal picked up on a lack of anything sincere.

There was a brief moment of sadness in Snow's eyes, but it passed quickly. Neal wondered if Snow and Charming had only supported this relationship on the surface.

"I made peace with it."

"Okay. Then how do we get home?" Snow asked, biting her lip. Neal could tell she just wanted to get back to their son – not that Neal could blame her in the least.

"Just leave that to me," Hades said, appearing in the room in a puff of smoke. "Bravo Baelfire. Bravo Henry. Now that I have what I need, you can get what you want."

Hades waved his hand, and a doorway erupted from thin air, a clock sitting neatly at the top.

"There's your trip home. It will close, permanently, when the last person crosses the threshold." Waving his hand, chains formed around Hook's wrists.

Emma gasped and started to rush forward, only to be held back by Charming.

"You can't do this to him!" she shouted as Regina and Robin ushered Henry through the portal, his father quickly following with Belle. Snow stood by the portal, looking at Charming with nervous eyes.

"Emma, we have to go home," she said. "You have to let go."

"Shut up! You never had to!"

"I was prepared to multiple times! Think about what Regina went through. She's moved on. So can you!"

Hades looked bored, before grabbing Hook and vanishing. Emma screamed as Charming lifted her off the ground and ran through the portal, Snow and Neal hot on his heels.

"Not so fast, Baelfire…" a voice said as he was suddenly separated from Emma and her parents. "Before you go home, you'll need a body to return to. And I don't think you'd like to be put back in the one that's been buried for a year."

Looking down at himself, Neal realized with horror that he was suddenly ghostly.

"Don't worry…" the voice said. Neal heard a snap, and he looked human again, exhaling in relief. "There. Now you may go home."

"Thank you," he said to the voice. He didn't know which deity it was, or if it was a fairy or sprite. He was grateful to whoever – or whatever – it was.

Taking a deep breath, Neal found himself back in Snow and Charming's apartment. He could hear Emma's sobs from where he was standing.

"We're leaving her alone for now. Do you want to come to Granny's with us? Henry will be meeting us there" Snow whispered, holding her son in her arms.

Neal nodded. "I didn't mean to hurt her again," he said softly, "but – "

"Fate is fate," she said softly. "I know. I can't speak for Regina or the others, but Charming and I don't blame you for this."

He smiled only slightly. "Thank you, Snow. That makes me feel better."

"JUST GET OUT OF HERE!" he heard Emma scream. Charming came down the stairs second later, shaking his head.

"Come on Snow," he sighed, before looking at Neal. "Ah, you made it back. Good. Shall we then?"

Neal nodded and followed the royal couple out of the apartment, helping Snow with the stroller for the prince as they made their way downstairs and out the door.

When they got to Granny's, and he saw a very quickly put together party welcoming him home, Neal realized this was where he belonged.

He was finally home.


End file.
